


The Terminal

by georgesjungle2



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019), Sanditon - Jane Austen, Welcome to Sanditon
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29346927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgesjungle2/pseuds/georgesjungle2
Summary: Be My Valentine Challenge...Babington and Esther
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker, Lord Babington/Esther Denham, Mr Crowe/Alison Heywood
Comments: 19
Kudos: 27





	The Terminal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sanditon Sisterhood](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Sanditon+Sisterhood).



Like clockwork, every Saturday since six months ago, he watched her walk into the terminal. It was always the same, she was straight all business, in her somewhat casual business suit which had gotten more relaxed than when he first seen her.

He remembered the first time, she was walking next to a tall lanky blonde man deep in conversation. They were two sides of a coin. She was wearing a jet black pencil business suit and her red hair piled eloquently on her head in a bun with some lose tendrils. He was wearing a blue business suit and had his head in a swivel despite the lady speaking with him. He knew a player when he seen one.

Babington spent Saturday nights at the terminal meeting his friends, Crowe, and Parker. He always volunteered to work on Saturday knowing that others had families that they wanted to spend the weekend with. He prided himself as being an understanding boss, although secretly he had desired the same thing. A family he could go and do something with.

The day was nearly done when he had just caught the long locks of red hair coming through the door. Today, there was a wildness about her. She didn’t have any bags with her other than a purse and she was trucking for her usual gate as if she would miss her flight, which was ridiculous because as long as he been observing her, he always made sure the plane was not authorized to leave before she arrived. There was one perk of being an airport director.

He had done his research. Esther Denham, always taking a small charter flight to Sanditon, to visit her aunt. Parker had finally returned from Antigua and he was able to get some more information, being from Sanditon as well. The blonde guy was some sort of stepbrother, although not related. She worked at the British Library.

Apparently, her aunt had great expectations for her niece living in London. Her stepbrother was a baronet and expected them to make use of their time to advance their status. Edward, her stepbrother, had frivolously wasted his time with sowing some wild oats. Esther had managed to land a good position at the library to become self-sufficient. Apparently, she had decided that was more important than to secure her fortune marrying into the peerage. It had caused a rift between Edward and herself as it seemed Edward had tried to set her up with several matches, to which she all spurned.

Babington caught up with her as she was speed walking to the terminal. “Going to Sanditon?”

She glanced at him and gave him a look that clearly read, why was he asking a stupid question.

“You know they won’t leave without you,” he said cheerfully. She came to a full stop and looked at him.

“Babington, why do you persist when you are treated with so little civility?”

He grinned at her. “Perhaps it is the fascination of what is difficult.” He had her full attention, and he was not going to waste it. “All I know is, the more I see you, and the more  
you nonchalantly reject my advances, the more intense my desire for you grows.”

She gave him a blank look. “Do you really think that line works on anybody?”

He gave her a grin. “I’m only trying to get it to work on you!”

She let out a sigh. “Give up Babington. I’m a lost cause.” She turned and walked away, leaving him feeling chastened but no less aroused.

He did not have time to think of it as his phone let him know his friends were arriving and after a moment, he turned to go meet up with them in the bar within the terminal.

He found them already starting without him. “Gee, thanks a lot,” he mumbled.

“I saw you chasing your friend. I thought you might actually have made progress!” Crowe crooned teasingly.

“What friend?”

“Esther Denham.”

Parker looked at him as if he lost his mind. “You are chasing Esther Denham?”

“She is positively disdainful.” He grinned drinking his beer. “I love it!” Crowe let out a huff and Parker just shook his head.

“You need to get out more often,” Crowe said looking around the bar.

“Perhaps he will,” Parker said giving Babington a grin. “I just found out that I got the intern position at the British Library. I start on Friday!”

“Only you can be excited about working with a bunch of ancient books. Don’t they know there is technology these days?” Crowe complained.

“There is something to be said about being able to hold something in your hand that doesn’t contain a battery.” Parker quipped at him, “although I guess with your bit of luck lately maybe you have to resort to that sort of thing,” he said grinning towards Babington and they both laughed.

“The both of you can go to the devil,” Crowe said thinking about his last failed attempt of a relationship.

“What’s the matter Crowe? Maybe, you should stop trying to think the ladies you have been picking up are relationship material.” Babington said giving out advice. 

Crowe looked at them. “I don’t recall either of you being in a position of authority to tell me I don’t know how to have a relationship,” Crowe mumbled. “Following Miss Denham around the terminal doesn’t count.”

“I just don’t follow her around the terminal.” Babington objected. “I’ll have you know; I have been secretly pursuing her at the library.”

Crowe rolled his eyes at Babington’s enthusiasm. “I bet I can get a true Valentine’s date before the both of you.” Valentine’s day was not that far away.

“I have twenty euros that says you can’t get anyone to go out with you next weekend let alone be the same girl at Valentine’s day. Tom is throwing some sort of Valentine’s Day party.”

“I’ll match that bet!” Babington said with a grin. “Valentine’s Day is on the weekend this year!” Which means Esther will be in Sanditon, thus perfect timing. His assistant could certainly fill in one day-if nothing else, James would just have to take one for the team. He had been needing a good excuse to go to Sanditon.

Crowe grumbled. “Fine, but don’t be trying to hire anyone from Clara’s call girl service to pass off as a serious date or I will know.”

Babington decided he would need to step up his game with Esther if he was going to beat Crowe on his bet. He decided he would get flowers delivered to her work on Monday, but first he would need to find out which were her favorite. He needed to get the 411. He needed Charlotte Heywood.

For the last few months, Babington had struck up conversation with Charlotte who worked at the library. He had found out Charlotte ate lunch with Esther most days. It was how he found out she was not in any serious relationships. Sure, she dated but it was very random. It was a good thing, Babington did not like thinking of her kissing, let alone anything else, with anyone else but him. He felt quite possessive for someone that had not even had more than a passing conversation with.

Charlotte and he had come up with a little coded talk. If Charlotte was having a good day, then Esther was in her office. A bad day though, meant Esther was out, which meant he could go downstairs to the foyer near her office where she kept a chess display. It was clearly marked, do not touch, but he touched it. 

First, it started off by him moving a piece. The first several times, Esther would move the pieces back and he would reset the board to with his first move and then counter move. After a couple of weeks, she no longer would reset the board and they would play a game of chess that way. To keep things a bit of a mystery, sometimes, he would bribe Charlotte into moving a piece for him.

Charlotte was a good sport. Of course, he had to bribe her. He found out that she enjoyed going to the little café near the library before work. He would arrange free coffee for her. He also makes sure she would get random tickets-a pair of tickets to the theater, dinner certificates or some homemade dessert from Arthur Parker who ran a bakery out of the Parker family home, Bedford Place, in London.

Esther arrived at work on Monday to find a ridiculous large vase of daisies on her credenza. After the weekend she had at Aunt Denham’s she was not sure if she should laugh or cry. Aunt Denham was back on her case of finding a serious suitor. It was not that she was adverse to the idea, but she had a horrible track record with men.

First, her own father had abandoned her when he left her and her mother. Then, her stepfather had done the same after her mother had died, although to be fair he was grieving and died himself not much longer after that. Eddie had not exactly been a great role model and even he thought she was more of a nuisance to have around until Aunt Denham told him that he needed to help her improve her status. She found out that Aunt Denham had promised him some money if he found a decent suitor and to that end, Eddie had tried to promote several of his own derelict friends that he had made a deal with to split the money.

Despite being annoyed with her aunt, she did love the crazy lady. If Aunt Denham had not pushed her, she was sure she would be at some dead-end job in Sanditon. However, here she was working in the British Museum where her mother had worked. While she was not living in Grosvenor square, she did have a nice loft and good friends. Charlotte and her sister Alison were good friends, despite Esther had kept Charlotte an arm length’s away when they first met.

Esther thought Clara Brereton was a good friend too, until she found out the girl had just used her to get to Eddie. Well, the joke was on her when she found out Eddie did not have any money nor any serious intentions of taking a wife. They were meant for each other.

Charlotte came downstairs. “Are we going out to lunch today?” She glanced over. “Wow, I don’t think I have ever seen such a boutique of flowers.” Charlotte looked at them. 

“Was there a card?” Esther slid it across the desk. “The Queen’s Gambit?” 

“It matches the game board outside.”

Charlotte went just outside Esther’s office and looked at the game display. Esther got up so they could leave. “Have you figured out who it is?”

“Someone annoying obviously,” Esther mumbled, “and someone that clearly can’t read.”

“I think it’s nice that someone is trying to engage you intellectually. You wouldn’t believe how boring my last date was.” Charlotte let out a huff. “Not only did he not know who Heraclitus was, he said he hadn’t stepped into a library since he was in grade school. Grade school Esther! And the guy was going on thirty!”

“You know your dates would be infinitely more diverting if you stopped trying to give them an IQ test on the first date.”

“Oh, I should be performing some other test?” Charlotte said with an inquisitive brow towards Esther.

“I’m just saying that sometimes, it’s not best to set your expectations so high.”

Charlotte looked at Esther. “Aunt Denham lecturing you again?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean every time Aunt Denham stats talking about you needing to settle down, you start talking about not having high expectations, we go to a bar where you pick up some random stranger and then come in the following day groaning more about the fact you hooked up with a completely random stranger than having some wild mind-blowing experience.”

“I always forget how brutality honest you speak your mind. And I did not take the last stranger home. He did not even make it through the Uber. I’ll have you know I am on a long hiatus.”

“Then, its about time you change your tactics and find someone you won’t be complaining about the next day.”

Esther looked at Charlotte. Maybe Charlotte was right. Maybe she did need someone more of boyfriend potential than random hookup. “Are you getting some sort of kick back from my aunt?”

Charlotte laughed. “No, but maybe I should be!”

Esther humored Charlotte during lunch which was to say she asked Charlotte’s opinion on some of the guys that they both knew.

“Alright, I give. I have listed every decent eligible guy I know, and you found something wrong with all of them! Maybe you should have Alison hook you up with an online dating profile. She has been swearing by it of late. She says she has met the guy of her dreams.”

“Has she actually met the guy or is he still just stringing her along with a bunch of talk?”

Charlotte let out a sigh. “I believe they have not met, but she swears he is the easiest guy to talk to.”

“It’s easy having a conversation with someone you don’t really know by email.”

“She’s seen his photo.”

“Haven’t you heard of catfishing? He could be Mr. Howard from security.” They both shuddered thinking about the man that boarder creepy on their radar.

“How about we all go on some sort of triple date?”

“Triple date?”

“You know, us three and three unknown guys. How horrible could that be?”

“That could be very horrible.” Esther did not really like going on completely blind dates. Picking up a guy at a bar was for something entirely different. Of course, if they did something a little fun then maybe it would not be so bad. “What kind of date?”

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders. “How about one of those escape rooms? They are all the craze now.”

“Oh, so you want to be locked up in a room with a stranger for an hour without a way to escape. Sounds very much like a Mr. Grey meets Saw kind of situation.”

Charlotte laughed. “You have an overactive imagination.”

Esther grinned. “Maybe it’s because I haven’t been tied up in a while.” She knew how to make Charlotte blush.

They returned to the library and their respective positions. Esther looked at the flowers. He could not be more obvious if he walked around the terminal with a sign. Shaking her head, she picked up the phone.

“Thank you for calling The Terminal. This is Rosie. How may I direct your call?”

“May I speak with the airport director?”

“Mr. Babington?” Rosie asked politely.

Esther held a sigh. Was there more than one airport director? “Yes.”

“May I ask who is calling?”

Esther put on her best customer service voice. “Ms. Denham.” She was certain Rosie was going to hang up on her. “It is for the British Library.” Maybe that would lend creditability as to why she was calling, despite it not actually being true. There was a bit of a long pause and Esther was beginning to think Rosie was trying to decide if she could reasonably hang up or would it come back to bite her if she did not pass the call through. Esther had decided if Rosie hung up then that would be the end of this hair brain idea.

“Miss Denham,” she heard Babington said in an unexpectant voice. No backing down now despite the warnings going off in her head.

“Babington.” She said with her normal tone. “Why do I have a ridiculous display of flowers in my office?”

“I have no idea. Maybe the delivery guy got lost.” His normal tactic did not work, he thought he would try a different approach.

“Well, that’s too bad. I thought for sure you sent them. Alright then.” She hung up the phone. Babington looked at the phone confused.

Mumbling, he called the library back, but since he did not have a direct number for her, he got bounced around quite a few times. He could not how epic that had backfired on him. If it had not been the middle of the afternoon, he would just go to the library. Why didn’t he just go to the library? Calling the assistant director, he decided and off he went.

When he arrived at the library, he had a small panic attack since Charlotte was not at her desk and Esther was not in her office. It was still early. She had to be somewhere in here, he thought. Walking up to a nearby librarian, he was surprised when he realized that the girl looked a lot like Charlotte. “Can I help you?”

He looked at her name tag. “A yes. I’m looking for Miss Denham.”

Alison blinked at him. “Did you try her office?”

“She wasn’t there.” He said as he ran his hand through his hair. He finally got one shot, and he blew it. He could not believe she had called him.

Alison looked at her watch. “She’s probably outside in the garden. Miss Heywood and her sometimes take a breakout there.” He gave her a look. He did not actually know where the garden was. She pointed through some double doors nearby. “Take a right and follow the path.” He gave her a polite smile and walked off. Alison let out a sigh. 

Arriving to the garden as they were walking back towards the entrance, Babington looked at her and Charlotte. “Miss Heywood, Miss Denham.” He greeted them. Esther gave him a funny look. Charlotte looked at Esther and then back to Babington.

“Mr. Babington,” Charlotte said nicely. “Nice afternoon isn’t it?”

He looked at Esther. He certainly hoped so. “I believe so.” Charlotte gave Esther a sneaky grin but kept on walking back into the building. “It wasn’t very nice for you to hang up  
on me.”

“You said you didn’t send the flowers. I’m a terribly busy person and I had to start working on the list on who I should call to thank.”

He looked at her. “Was I at the top of that list?”

“I would suggest being happy you were even on that list.”

He grinned at her. She obviously was not going to make it easy. “I am. Very happy to be on the list.”

“Perhaps you should not be overly happy just yet.”

“Are you going to try to tell me you are allergic to them?”

“Oh, no. They are incredibly beautiful. Thank you.” She knew she would have to be nice.

“I bet that took a lot to say.”

“Not at all.” That was the easy part. The hard part was coming. “How do you feel about escape rooms?”

“Am I trying to escape?” She rolled her eyes. “Am I tied up?” He grinned. She let out a sigh. Give a guy an inch….

She gave him an expiated smile. “Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you? This isn’t chutes and ladders.”

He tried to give her a serious face, however inside he was excited. Finally, after all this time, he might have finally got a chance with her. A guy can dream right?

“Charlotte wants to go to one and it was suggested it would be better as a group. Since you seem at least a little bit able to play chess, I figured you would be smart enough to bring along.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Esther was not sure if she could take his head getting any bigger than it was. “Her sister too, but neither of them knows many in town. I figured you should know a couple of people.”

“Is this a guys verses girl?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it will depend on which two peacocks you bring to the party.” He was grinning at her, but he did not care.

“Alright, just be prepared to lose.” She looked at him. She was afraid that had already happened when she was not paying attention. “Does this mean you are going to give me your number?”

“Really pushing your luck, aren’t you?” She said with mostly a straight face, though he could tell she was teasing.

He smiled at her. He was not pushing his luck today, but he would be.

Several dates later, he did just that. Esther came through her door to her room. They had been to the escape room, dinner, a trip to Sanditon, a garden tour, bowling night, movie night and they had just gotten back from Tom’s Valentine party. It was getting rather late, but she heard the knock on the door, not too long after she got out of the shower.

He grinned at her after he gave her a kiss. “I forgot to ask you something,” he said as he made his way in the door, making sure it was locked behind him.

“What would that be?” She gave him an inquisitive look.

He looked at her tenderly that made her insides melt. He took a calm breath to steady his nerves. “Miss Denham, would you Be Mine Forever Valentine?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
